08.09.10

Summary: HP’s CEO leaves amidst a new fraud scandal; Microsoft’s executives named among possible replacements and Microsoft’s own frauds are revisited

Microsoft’s financial situation is a matter of insincerity, for many reasons that we covered before. Adding to Microsoft’s problems we recently saw a downgrade, which we mentioned in [1, 2]. Here is the AP coverage of that:

Apple has managed to grab a lucrative niche of the rich people’s market. It hardly means that Apple can ever attain dominance. As for Microsoft, it is being sandwiched by GNU/Linux and Apple while its shares are 10% within 52-week low, according to this financial news site:

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares closed the day at $25.37, which means they are now just 10.41% away from its 52-week low, is this finally the bottom for MSFT?

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Flounders,” says another report and one last report bears the headline “Crash In Hindsight: Microsoft Currently 8.50% Below its May 6th Crash Low of $27.91 (MSFT)”; Based on this report, there are Microsoft layoffs/cuts in support and consulting.

Going some years into the past, a Macs-oriented Web site (which recently started praising GNU/Linux at Apple’s expense) speaks about “Microsoft the Ultimate Pyramid Scheme” (thanks to Tobin for the pointer).

According to an article at the Register, MS Website Trumpets ‘Pyramid’ Company, Microsoft has been featuring a case study about GoldQuest, a pyramid scheme company!

This, of course, is not Microsoft’s fault. Companies that use Windows to generate funds through pyramid schemes do not have to tell Redmond what they are up to any more than purveyors of spyware, adware, viruses, Trojan horses, networks of zombie computers belching up personal information to Mafia lords, spammers, or anyone else has to. These things manifestly do not have anything to do with Microsoft per se, any more than . . . some other analogy that I was thinking of but forgot.

Any way, the point of this article (and I do have a point) is that Microsoft itself is a kind of pyramid scheme.

In your classic pyramid scheme, you sell something of limited value and tell the seller that they can make money by selling the same valueless thing to friends for the same price less a minor finder’s fee. The “mark” is told that as more people join the pyramid, more money trickles down the pyramid to him through the finder’s fees, eventually making him rich with very little effort.

In the Microsoft version, the “mark” (an IT guy) is told that if they use Windows, they’ll be more compatible and more productive. Further, if they convince 10 users in their company to use Windows, then all the additional savings will be passed on to the IT department, which can hire more people to take care of the additional computers.

“GoldQuest has grown into a ecommerce powerhouse, generating 70 per cent of its $200m annual turnover online,” the page gushes. Microsoft claims it has saved the company $82,000 a year in IT costs and helped it increase revenue by $10m a year.

Wow. That’s quite an embarrassment, more so than LSE as a “case study” (LSE eventually dumped Windows and went with GNU/Linux instead [1, 2, 3, 4]).

This whole discussion came about in IRC last night. Tobin sought information about Microsoft as a pyramid scheme (like many in the stock market) and Chips B Malroy wondered “what the resignation of the HP CEO will mean with WebOS? Will the next CEO go back to windows?”

For those who have not heard yet, there is fraud claimed at HP, not just Microsoft. Here are some articles from the news:

Mark Hurd, the man credited with reinvigorating Hewlett-Packard Co., resigned as chief executive of the technology giant after an investigation of his relationship with a female contractor found he violated the company’s business standards.

H-P said Friday that Mr. Hurd, 53 years old, didn’t violate the company’s policy regarding sexual-harassment but submitted inaccurate expense reports that were intended to conceal what the company said was a “close personal relationship” with the woman.

Mark Hurd, CEO of HP is resigning on the heels of sexual harassment charges by a former HP contractor. The company’s investigation concluded that there was no sexual harassment violation, however it did find that Hurd violated HP’s “Standards of Business Conduct.” Hurd said it was a “painful decision” and vaguely acknowledged that he displayed a lack of character.

As per the latest disclosure made by the largest computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), the tech major has agreed to settle a lawsuit in principle imposed against it by the Department Of Justice (DOJ).

[...]

This lawsuit dates back to the year 2007, when Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) first initiated this lawsuit, and the Government agency with others to form a combined lawsuit against the three tech majors namely, HP, Sun Microsystems and Accenture.

Steve Elop, chief of Microsoft’s business division, which handles MS Office. He was formerly chief operating officer of No. 2 networking company Juniper Networks. Known as a no-nonsense taskmaster, Elop is a veteran in the technology industry, having served in senior positions at Adobe Systems and Macromedia.

What Else is New

Torvalds and others who are middle-aged (or older) males are often torpedoed using weakly-backed allegations (or insinuations/innuendo) of sexism; that does not seem to matter and won't matter when they treat men the same (or worse)

Linus Torvalds was not fully canceled; nor was Richard Stallman, who's still heading the GNU Project (under conditions specified by those looking to oust him; people who code for Microsoft GitHub and many IBM employees)

General Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the Board of Red Hat, explains (keynote in 2011 Red Hat Summit/JBoss World) that he was introduced to the system as part of a military campaign; it basically helped war, not antiwar

Techrights examines Red Hat’s (IBM’s) hypocritical claims about the Free Software Foundation, founded by Richard Stallman back when IBM was the “big scary monopolist”; IBM employees were prominent among those pushing to oust Stallman from the GNU Project, which he founded, as well

The (in)famous letter against Richard Stallman (RMS), which was signed by many Red Hat employees with Microsoft (GitHub) accounts, doesn’t look particularly good in light of recent revelations/findings; it increasingly looks like IBM simply wants Microsoft-hosted and “permissively” licensed stuff, just like another project it announced yesterday and another that it promoted yesterday

One might not expect this from a so-called 'charity'; the Gates Foundation's critics are often met with unprecedented aggression, threats and retribution, which make one wonder if it's really a charity or a greedy cult of personalities (Bill and Melinda)

The assault on the media by Bill Gates is a subject not often explored by the media (maybe because a lot of it is already bribed by him); but we're beginning to gather new and important evidence that explains how critics are muzzled (even fired) and critical pieces spiked, never to see the light of day anywhere

Microsoft buying GitHub does not demonstrate that Microsoft loves Open Source (GitHub is not Open Source and may never be) but that it loves monopoly and coercion (what GitHub is all about and why it must be rejected)

The European Patent Office (EPO) keeps granting fake patents that cause a lot of real harm (examiners are pressured to play along and participate in this unlawful agenda); nobody is happy except those who profit from needless, frivolous lawsuits

After contributing to the cancellation of Richard Stallman (RMS) based on some falsehoods perpetuated in the media we're seeing the sort of thing one might expect from IBM (more so now that it totally controls Fedora and RHEL)

The coup to remove (or remove power from) Stallman and Torvalds, the GNU and Linux founders respectively, is followed by outsourcing of their work to Microsoft’s newly-acquired monopoly (GitHub) and appointment of Microsoft workers or Microsoft-friendly people, shoehorning them into top roles under the disingenuous guise of "professionalism"